Im not so sure its worth while anymore. I just paid $1800 for 7 tons of Somersets delivered. Propane is about $1.79 a gallon. Im thinking it would probably be about the same to heat with propane this year. I'm definately going to have to plan this out a bit better next year. If it's not saving me ALOT of money it's really just a novelty.
Wow pellet prices have really gone up!!!
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Jason845845
Feeling the Heat
Hopefully they stay a little higher, so there will be a glut of barely used stoves on craigslist to choose from in the spring 
RMongeau
Member
Only $1.79 !
I just paid $3.99 a gallon yesterday to fill up my backup generator propane tanks.
Luckily I only took about 70 gallons.
LOL - Come to eastern CT people will give their left "you know what" to get Somersets for 257/ton - or any at all. Pellet dealers out of stock, it's ugly... HW store selling Lignetics for 8.49/bag
!!Luckily I bought mine in the Summer
$257/ton for somersets doesn't sound too bad, what are you used to paying? Last week, my friends and I picked up Blazers at HD for $250/ton. Well, actually $225/ton after 10% Lowes coupon was applied. Delivered the next day. Thought that was an OK deal.
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Normally they are $3.99 a bag. I've never paid more. In fact I have almost always got them on sale for $3.79 a bag. So I had quite shock to see them this high especially with propane so low around here. I'm kind of wishing I hadn't bought them now. I could have taken the winter off and just used propane. Maybe fire up the stove a few times.
Its not just about the pellets being expensive but the alternative being cheap. I am wondering too what the break even point is. I just put in a pellet burner here in the last couple weeks partially to save money over propane but the $4/gal price is stuck in my head from last year where now its less than half of that. And what is this 10% off lowes coupon... I keep hearing it mentioned but seem to miss out on the details.
LOL - Come to eastern CT people will give their left "you know what" to get Somersets for 257/ton - or any at all. Pellet dealers out of stock, it's ugly... HW store selling Lignetics for 8.49/bag
This is what I'm talking about. Is it really worth it if prices keep going up? People complain about $1,000 month oil/propane bill but if your cranking away in the cold of Jan or Feb at 5# per hour your burning through 3600#/mo. At $8.49 thats $764. Now propane cost half as much... and pellets are on the rise. When does it end? Will you still buy pellets when they are $10-15 per bag? I thought $150/cord of wood was expensive (used to cutting it myself) and I just refused to pay for a years worth of wood. But I think I'll go back to wood even if I have to buy it if pellet prices keep going up.
This is why it is nice to have options on what to burn for heat. Corn is cheapest heat here this year. Natural gas is next. Pellets are high on the list. Google a fuel cost calculator for specifics. I can remember back in 05 when I started burning, you could get pellets for 2.00 a bag, and corn was a 1.46 a bushel. kap
Bioburner
Moderator
Only reason for buying pellets for us then was to get a good fire going to start the corn.
There are a few ways to get the Lowes 10% off coupon, but the method I used was the mover's coupon package available at the post office. It's an envelope full of coupons, one of which is a Lowes 10% off voucher. You have to go to the Lowes website and fill out a form, including info printed on that voucher and a couple days later they e-mail you a link to download the coupon. Print it out, bring it to HD, and they will accept it as a competitive coupon as if it were one of their own. YMMV on this one as each HD is different, and I believe the individual HD employee you are working with matters as well. It's like everything else - some accept Lowes coupons, others don't - some give military discount, others don't. Some do free delivery others don't, you get the idea. I think I just got lucky on that particular day and happened to be in a store with an employee willing to accept the coupon.
I hear you loud and clear. This is a very common sentiment lately. It's really up to each person's own perception, and varies by geography as well. For example, I picked up those Blazers at $225/ton which I thought was an OK deal. That's just my perception, because there's only one "pellet house" around here the sells Blazers (when they have them, which is rare) and they get $340/ton for them. Same thing with the Okie Douglas Firs - they go for anywhere from $345 - $370 and probably even higher these days. Having said that, I'm sure there are folks in central and western US who think I'm on crack for paying $225/ton for Blazers, because they can get the same pellets for ~$200/ton, and that's without a coupon! Then you have to take into account the continuously dropping price of home heating oil (the pre-dominant heating source around here). It hasn't been this low since late 2010, while the price of pellets (my lucky experience being a rare exception) is through the roof, not to mention they are hard to come by for some folks. TSC and Lowes are at $270/ton, and you know if people keep buying, they will just keep increasing the prices! This is a very strange market we are currently in, and it's definitely a time for pellet burners to think about where they are spending their time, effort, money, and in many cases - frustration. Yes, there are people who will tell you over and over and over again that they would pay $500 - $600/ton or $10 - $12/bag for pellets before heating with oil. Seriously? My stove would be re-purposed as a boat anchor before I paid that much! I splurged and bought a ton of Okie DFs this year and even that was hard to do! I prefer to stay in the $4.50 - $5.50 avg. per bag range, so at the end of the season I can look back at the savings and feel relatively good about it. To pay $8, $10, $12 per bag etc. simply diminishes the value of using a pellet stove to the point where it's not even worth it anymore. What's the point? Saving $100 a year while living in fear that you won't be able to find pellets or there will be another shortage or price gouging to deal with? No thanks. Let's just hope this mad pricing and shortage nonsense settles down in the near future.
Mt Bob
Minister of Fire
Read most posts(sorry)and you guys are right in my opinion on lots!You guys probably read about my posts about having no pellets,they get them in late fall,when they run out no more are to be had,have been dealing with this since 1998.I talked my local ace hardware manager into getting some in early,I paid same price as last year,Works good for me living in the mts.I used to buy pellets for106.Them days are gone.Right now every seller has pellets(some more strange brands,again)but prices are the same.Living in a low population state/area has drawbacks.But something to think about,you guys back east can buy north idaho pellets(very good stuff) and they are only mde in one plant out here.Our price on these has went up to"cannot afford to buy them"It is marketing,if they can sell them back there at this price,therefore they can charge us more.Same as our states electrical production excess goes to northern calif. so we pay very high ele. prices because that is what they can charge there.Do not move to montana,we are a triple tax state,with lots of police abuse added.But enought bad,I have to give my hats off to oakies(canadian company) as for their buying out other pellet plants,and still providing a very high quality product.
Can't hurt to have a years stash on hand and still use pain. Prices IMO won't come down much even next spring. Raw material is the bottleneck. Its not out there to be had. New raw material production is going to come at a higher cost due to the source. It won't be a waste product anymore . It will be a commodity.
Also if you go to the top of this page in the tool bar, under info articles, there is a fuel cost calculator too.
Bioburner
Moderator
I would just convert corn in to weight as pellets and corn can have close to the same btu per pound
The problem with liquid fuel sources is that their prices are volatile. Come January, it may cost $5 a gallon again, and then you'd wish you had pellets on hand. I do agree that there is a break even point somewhere, and the prices are certainly near equilibrium.
1.79/gal is really cheap for propane and I'd probably consider just using that as well, unfortunately here in NH, I've seen a little over 3/gal. Oil is 2.94/gal.
Using the eia.gov calculator (google: "eia.gov energy calculator") using the efficiency provided I get the following:
$1.79/gal propane = $25.13/per million btu
$3.18/gal propane = $44.64/per million btu *price seen in NH*
$2.94/gal oil = $27.18/per million btu *price seen in NH*
$2.50/gal oil = $23.11/per million btu *where I'd stop using pellets most likely*
$269/ton = $21.45/per million btu *price I paid for pellets*
$300/ton = $23.92/per million btu *prices seem to be creeping up*
Oil would have to drop to $2.50/gal for me to stop the stove from running.
I had propane at my old house...never again, at least in northeast, it usually costs more than oil and produces significantly less heat.
Using the eia.gov calculator (google: "eia.gov energy calculator") using the efficiency provided I get the following:
$1.79/gal propane = $25.13/per million btu
$3.18/gal propane = $44.64/per million btu *price seen in NH*
$2.94/gal oil = $27.18/per million btu *price seen in NH*
$2.50/gal oil = $23.11/per million btu *where I'd stop using pellets most likely*
$269/ton = $21.45/per million btu *price I paid for pellets*
$300/ton = $23.92/per million btu *prices seem to be creeping up*
Oil would have to drop to $2.50/gal for me to stop the stove from running.
I had propane at my old house...never again, at least in northeast, it usually costs more than oil and produces significantly less heat.
SmokeEater
Feeling the Heat
Fuel Oil in the area is posted as $3.19 per gallon as of 10/24. May even be lower today. I bought 8 tons of Curran's hard/soft delivered for $249 per. They burn well, are low in fines, and leave a light grey ash. Very happy with them and have burned over 25 tons to date.
SmokeEater
Feeling the Heat
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